Rivian is still a fledgling automaker having only started production of the R1T electric pickup truck last September. Even though the company is now hitting its stride, delivering over 6,400 electric vehicles (EVs) in Q3, their service infrastructure, which consists of mobile service technicians and some service centers, is still growing.
That means for many new owners, if their R1T or R1S needs a repair that can’t be completed by a mobile service technician, their EV would need to be towed to the nearest service center, which in many cases can be hundreds of miles away.
Rivian service plan revealed, and its very similar to Tesla’s model
Until now, Rivian’s policy would be to tow the owner’s truck or SUV to the service center, and return it to them free of charge. That has now changed.
According to a R1T owner in northern Virginia on the RivianForums, as of October 6, 2022 Rivian is billing customers as much as $55 as a base fee, plus a whopping $6.50 per mile. In the case of this particular owner who’s nearest service center is over 200 miles away, he can now expect a bill of over $1,300, one way.
The kicker is this also applies to warranty repairs for when the car breaks down due to no fault of the owner.
Naturally owners and would-be owners are upset about the change. The thread on RivianForums was only posted this morning but has already grown to 11 pages long with over 150 replies at the time of publication.
Rivian hasn’t officially announced the change, but according to another owner who followed up with Rivian Customer Service, the new policy was communicated to the Service Advisor team last night, and an official announcement would follow “in the coming weeks.”
We have reached out to Rivian for comment and will update this article when we receive a response.
Rivian shares peek inside mobile service vans and trucks [Video]
